…at least according to the hilarious folks at Cracked.com:
Funny stuff. How odd that two of these deaths involved a flying missile-like object impaling a bad guy!
Category Archives: Movies
Cute…and quite funny
Are you an action movie fan? Have you ever had the desire to see a supercut of the (violent) uses of…improbable weapons in action films?
Then you’re in luck!
The people at Burger Fiction have created the video for you!
An Improbable Weapon Supercut from Burger Fiction on Vimeo.
Hard to believe I can name almost all the films in this supercut.
Black Money (1966) a very belated book review
Fashioning myself something of a writer, there are several authors out there whose work I greatly admire and keep circling back to in awe and for inspiration. A partial list of some of the best of the best, IMHO of course, include Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Joseph Conrad, Isaac Asimov, and Raymond Chandler. This is but the tip of the iceberg.
Without getting too far afield, I also really, really like the Lew Archer novels by Ross Macdonald. (pen name for Kenneth Millar, 1915-1983). The 18 Lew Archer novels (there were also a handful of short stories) appeared between 1949 (The Moving Target) and 1976 (The Blue Hammer). While the first few novels were decent enough, Mr. Macdonald/Millar really hit his stride quickly, soon producing one excellent novel after another (the only one that disappointed me was the very last Archer novel, The Blue Hammer. Mr. Millar would ultimately succumb to Alzheimer’s disease and I suspect that this last published novel was marred to some degree by the early stages of that terrible disease).
As damn good as the Lew Archer series is, I suspect today’s audiences don’t know all that much about these books. If they do, it may be because of two Paul Newman films, 1966’s Harper (The Lew Archer character name was changed to Lew Harper for the screen but the film was indeed based on the first Archer novel, The Moving Target) and 1975’s The Drowning Pool (based on the second Lew Archer novel of the same name).
While Harper is considered something of a classic (you can read my belated review of that film here), The Drowning Pool isn’t quite as good, IMHO.
The character of Lew Archer would also appear in television shows and on the radio yet, as mentioned above, I suspect not all that many people today know about the books.
Why is that?
Perhaps one of the reasons is because the Lew Archer character and the stories he is in are so very, very derivative of Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe books. If one is less kind, one would say Mr. Macdonald/Miller were straight out simply trying to make more Phillip Marlowe books. Derivative or not, if one can put that aside you’re in for a treat as the Lew Archer novels are incredibly rich works of detective fiction.
The reason I mention all this is because the Coen Brothers (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country For Old Men, etc. etc.) recently announced that one of their next projects is a film adaptation of the 13th, and what many, including author Macdonald/Millar, feels is the best of the Lew Archer novels, Black Money. (for the record, my favorite Archer novel is the book that preceded Black Money by a couple of years, 1964’s The Chill).
When I heard the Coens were interested in making Black Money, I tried to recall the novel but given all the years since I read it I couldn’t. Luckily, I have almost every one of the Archer novels so I headed to one of my bookshelves, picked the book up, and gave it a spin.
And what an enjoyable experience it was.
While The Chill still remains my favorite Archer novel, Black Money proved yet another well written work of detective fiction complete with well defined characters, tragedy, murder, and more than a few red herrings. Macdonald/Millar had a knack for writing works that appeared deceptively spare yet had a great depth to them. The novel is indeed short and consists mostly of dialogue between characters yet is packed with interesting scenarios and events. Some are quite humorous while others are very dark.
The plot, briefly, involves Lew Archer being hired to check up on a supposed ex-pat in hiding Frenchman temporarily residing at an exclusive Californian Tennis Club and romancing a young woman who also resides there. The man hiring Archer loves and wants to marry this woman and feels, as do several others at the club, that the Frenchman is a fraud.
To reveal much more than this would be a crime (pun slightly intended), but suffice it to say that things get very twisty from here on out and the past and present collide alongside characters who have hidden agendas.
As enjoyable as the novel was, and I certainly recommend it along with the other Archer books to anyone who likes the works of Raymond Chandler, I admit to being a little worried as to how/if it can be successfully adapted into a movie.
Again, this novel consists mostly of dialogue (which is more than fine) between Archer and the various people he encounters but, frankly, there is little actual action to be found. Obviously the film will be promoted as a work of detective fiction, but I worry people may find the lack of said action a detriment. And adding -or expanding- on whatever action there is for the sake of creating some exciting scenes may alter, perhaps for the worse, the film/book’s story.
Having said that and given their success rate, if there’s anyone that can make this work it would be the Coens.
So, if you’re a fan of the Coen brothers and want to get a jump on one of their next projects or if you’re a fan of good detective novels, give Black Money a try. Just be warned: You may be tempted to look up all the other Archer books afterwards.
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015) a (pretty much on time) review
After Tom Cruise (in)famously did a couch jump to physically express his love for then wife (now third ex-wife) Katie Holmes in an Oprah Winfrey interview, many potential fans/audiences cooled to him personally (his dabbling in Scientology, complete with YouTube videos of said dabbling, didn’t help matters much as well).
Despite this personal low and the ridicule engendered, Tom Cruise kept right on working, releasing film after film after film and while not every one of them have been box office hits, it is difficult not to appreciate, or at the very least respect, the fact that he’s devoted to his art and continues to work hard on each new project after all these years. There are many actors who, after decades in the industry, have taken to “phoning in” their roles. Mr. Cruise, like him or not, still gives his all in each new film.
Now, at the risk of sounding waaay too psychological, the above history makes me wonder if the latest Mission: Impossible film, Rogue Nation, is, apart from another entertaining M:I film, also something of a Tom Cruise autobiography.
In Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise’s character in M:I, we have someone who is essentially a cipher. A blank character (aren’t all actors that?) who submerge themselves into their role, in this case a do-gooder intent on proving himself in spite of the fact that his superiors (in the movie’s case Alec Baldwin as Alan Huntley, a high up U.S. politician who wants to shut the IMF group down; in Mr. Cruise’s case, the audiences) have turned on him.
Like Tom Cruise, Ethan Hunt is a very hard working individual and, despite all obstacles, will perform what’s needed (including having Hunt/Cruise hang on to the outside of a plane as it lifts off and flies around!) to get the mission done.
I tell you, we’re deep into psychological territory here.
But lest that turn you off from seeing M:I – Rogue Nation, don’t let it. This film, as mentioned before, is entertaining despite having many of the same flaws I found in the last M:I film, Ghost Protocol. Unlike Ghost Protocol, I don’t get the feeling the script was radically changed toward the second half of the film (In my Ghost Protocol review, which you can read here, I noted that it is my belief the film’s original bad guys of that feature were Paula Patton’s Jane and Josh Holloway’s Hanaway. Read my review to see why I felt this was the case!).
But like Ghost Protocol, we once again have a film with a nebulous and, ultimately, not fleshed-out enough villain. In GP (I’ll refer to Ghost Protocol this way from now on), part of the problem was that change in the script, which I’m quite certain happened. In RN (I’ll refer to Rouge Nation in this way from now on), the villain is simply too often on the sidelines and out of the picture. When we finally get an understanding of what he’s up to, it winds up being a plan that, if considered seriously, is way too complicated to have any expectation of succeeding. At the risk of getting too spoilery, there has to be a better way for this very clever man to (ahem) make a buck.
Still, like GP, RN moves along like lightning and doesn’t give audiences the time to dwell on these defects. The action is crisp, the characters are likeable, especially newcomer to the M:I universe Rebecca Ferguson who plays Ilsa Faust, an Ethan Hunt-level female agent whose nebulous allegiances we’re never quite sure of until the movie’s climax.
Thanks to the success of MI: RN and the last batch of Tom Cruise films, audiences who once scorned the actor appear willing to give him a second chance. Like Ethan Hunt in M:I – RN, it would appear Mr. Cruise’s personal mission has been accomplished as well as the one on the screen.
Recommended.
Holy crap…
I’ve been curious about the new Fantastic Four movie in the “I-wonder-just-how-bad-it-will-be” kind of way. No, I don’t relish anyone’s failures but given all the pre-release stories and strange (that’s putting it kindly) castings and creative decisions, including changing the group’s origin and radically (it appears) changing their main villain, I couldn’t see how this film would succeed.
It was like someone was given the Fantastic Four property and decided to remake the whole thing. In other words, it appeared the Fantastic Four film featured the Fantastic Four in name only.
Well, looks like the film has finally been given to the critics and man, have the reviews been brutal. Yesterday at Rotten Tomatoes the film was polling at a pathetic 14% positive among critics.
Well, it appears more critics have had their say and adding their opinions to the overall critical score the film, as of this minute, is polling at an even worse 8% positive.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantastic_four_2015/
Ouch.
Perhaps what bothers me the most is that I like the Fantastic Four concept…the actual comic book concept, and feel good films can be made with the characters. Looks like it wasn’t the case here.
13 Movie Heroes…
…Who Caused Mass Civilian Casualties.
I suppose this list was made before the release of Man of Steel, a movie whose detractors instantly note must have had thousands of civilian deaths during the fight between Superman and Zod.
Regardless, the points made in this article are spot on:
http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1606_13-movie-heroes-who-caused-mass-civilian-casualties/
Though I loved to see them when I was younger, whenever I see a car chase in a movie nowadays I can’t help but slip into “old man” mode and cringe at some of the crashes presented. Perhaps its because I’ve driven for as many years as I have and I can’t help but think, when seeing these carnage filled chases, about the civilians in the line of fire.
Understand, car chases remain incredibly exciting if done well, but if one looks at the very early examples of car chases in film (Bullitt, The French Connection, and The Seven-Ups), there is quite a bit made of how the hero has to avoid hurting civilians and, when they do somehow get in the way of the chase, pains are made to show that the civilians aren’t hurt by the chase.
Here’s Bullitt’s famous car chase scene, arguably the very first elaborate modern car chase sequence:
Notice there are very few civilian vehicles on the road during this chase and even fewer civilians walking the streets. In fact, for a big city like San Francisco, the streets look almost eerily empty! Note too that the only civilian that gets in the way of the chase is found in the second part of the video, when the action moves from San Francisco to the outskirts of town. A motorcycle rider falls but the filmmakers make it clear with a quick shot that he may be shaken but otherwise gets to his feet. As for the gas station at the end of the sequence, one can only guess it was closed and no one was in it at the explosive finale as the scene after no mention is made of casualties.
Next up, The French Connection:
What this film does (apart from the fact that it isn’t really a car chase but rather a car chasing a train), is up the ante of Bullitt by introducing that for the most part missing civilian danger. Here we have the hero fighting to get to the villain but also having to deal with civilians both walking around and in other cars. Note how the hero avoids them and what crashes there are tend to not be as destructive as some of those noted in the cracked article above.
Finally, the car chase from The Seven-Ups:
First off, your eyes don’t deceive you. The man driving the villain’s vehicle in this movie is Bill Hickman. the same stunt driver/actor who also drove the villain’s vehicle in Bullitt. He also had a role in, and was the stunt double of, Gene Hackman in The French Connection as well! Clearly Mr. Hickman played a big role in modern cinema’s car chase elements.
Returning to The Seven-Ups, much as I liked that car chase, by this point it was obvious the film’s makers were essentially repeating the Bullitt car chase but with added civilian threats and a conclusion that twists that earlier movie’s ending as the villains survive the chase but the hero is stopped.
I only present these chases to give you an idea of how far things have gone since these early elaborate chases (Bullitt was released in 1968, The French Connection was released in 1971, and The Seven-Ups was from 1973) versus what we see now in films such as Furious 7.
What a revolting development!
A trio of interesting lists for you, starting with:
5 “Dirty” Things You Didn’t Know About The Beatles
Not to sound to brainy or anything (as if that’s possible!), but I always had a feeling -now confirmed!- about the first item on this list. Way back in their very early years, The Beatles made a German version of the song “She Loves You” entitled “Sie Liebt Dich”, presented below…
Anyway, when I first heard the song I couldn’t help but notice how similar the main verse sounds like something…well…naughty and I wondered if The Beatles were slyly making a *ahem* joke with this song. Based on what’s written in the link above, the lads deliberately mispronouncing those lyrics so that it sounds like…well, use your imagination.
Next up…
27 of the Most Offensive Band Names Ever
There are some real funny ones there I had never heard of (John Cougar Concentration Camp?!) with two that are fairly well known, The Butthole Surfers, whose biggest hit was…
And a band with a decidedly out there name who made, IMHO, some great punk songs, The Dead Kennedys…
Love many of their songs. How about another?
And one last one, for the road…
Finally, one last list, this one featuring…
25 Movies That Were Originally Slapped with an NC-17 Rating
Not too surprising to find several of the ones listed. They did forget one prominent one, though: the original 1987 Robocop was originally slapped, I believe, with an “X” rating (NC-17 didn’t exist then) and the makers of the film had to trim down some of the violence, particularly during the messy boardroom presentation of the ED 209 (where the robot kills a board member and, removed from the film for its theatrical release, continues firing at his dead body) and Officer Murphy’s (Peter Weller) death scene (it went on longer and was more graphic) to get an R rating.
I believe those scenes were re-inserted into the film since then and most video releases now have them.
This one hits close to home…
From Cracked.com and written by Daniel Dockery:
5 Ways My Movie Collection Became An Actual Addiction
I can’t say that I agree with all of Mr. Dockery’s comments, but I will reveal something painfully personal about myself:
I’m a movie/TV show buying addict.
I’m much better now, purchasing only a few films or TV series now and again and, often, only when they’re on sale.
But my collection is so damn vast at this point and there are so many shows and movies I’ve purchased and have yet to actually watch, that it became clear to me several years ago that I had become an addict.
When I was at my worst, I would purchase at least a film -more often two or three!- a week. At first it was to build up a collection of my favorite features and TV shows, but soon enough I had most of the works I originally wanted and started picking up new features that looked interesting. Often, I hadn’t seen the work at all and was picking it up sight unseen.
My logic for doing so wasn’t all that bad: I didn’t catch the movie in the theaters or the TV show on first run and, when it was released to DVD or BluRay, the price to buy these works was comparable to what I’d spend going to the theater to see it or renting it (this was when Blockbuster still existed). In other words, no big deal.
However, just as I didn’t have the time to see certain films in theaters I found I didn’t have time to watch the DVD/BluRays I bought in my spare time either. Even now there are movies and TV series I bought literally years ago which I haven’t had the time to get to and, when I’m honest with myself, I wonder when and if I ever will.
Which makes me realize –painfully!– all the money I’ve spent on these works.
But as I said before, I’ve gotten much better. Realizing I was buying things I might never get to has helped me slow my purchases to a crawl, as has the fact that I’ve once again focused on getting things that I absolutely loved and wanted to own. Netflix and On Demand has helped as well. Instead of buying films sight unseen I now put them on my cue and, more often than not, see a film and send it back and rarely feel the need to buy it as I know I’ll never get back to it again.
Ah well, live and learn!
The possibility for a Hellboy 3…
…appears pretty murky:
Hellboy 3 is a Little Beyond Kickstarter
The essence of this article, for those who don’t want to click and read it (but you should if you’re interested!) is that director Guillermo Del Toro was asked about the possibility of a Hellboy 3 movie and he stated:
“The hard fact is that the movie’s going to need about $120 million and there’s nobody knocking down our doors to give it to us. It’s a little beyond Kickstarter. It would be great to complete the trilogy. But in a way I don’t see the world—the industry—supporting that idea. But you know, Ron is no spring chicken, so we’d better get to it before Hellboy has to do everything from a Barcalounger.”
You know, I like Guillermo Del Toro even though I may not be the biggest fan of his films. Going into them, you can always expect some great visuals even if at times the stories he presents peter out (I recall being especially frustrated with Blade II which started so damn well and, IMHO, then just ran out of gas 2/3rds of the way through).
I feel his best film remains Mimic, a genuinely creepy horror story involving mutant cockroaches. Despite some flaws, including studio interference, I love that film. I also love the Hellboy comic books by Mike Mignola and company. While the original Mignola written/drawn ones are my favorites, he’s brought in a stable of interesting artists and has maintained the series relatively well.
But the Hellboy movies? Again, visually stunning and Ron Perlman is absolutely perfect as Hellboy…but the films themselves have left me a little flat. In some ways, they’re not unlike Blade II in that respect and could have used stronger stories.
And yet after having said all that, I still wouldn’t mind seeing a third Hellboy film by the same cast and crew, provided they can get the money to make it.
I love the character of Hellboy so much that I’d love to see him again in another, hopefully better, adventure.
Perhaps the third time will be the charm?
The Evolution of Chuck Jones
For those who don’t know the name, Chuck Jones (1912-2002) was easily one of the greatest animators of all time. His primary work appeared for Warner Brothers, where he made an astonishing number of classic, memorable cartoons. He helped define Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. He created the Coyote and the Road Runner. He…
I could go on and on.
io9.com offered a link to a fascinating video, which I’ve embedded below, which examines the art, and evolution, of Chuck Jones. Watch it. It will make you happy.
The article which featured this video can be found here:
http://io9.com/every-frame-a-painting-examines-the-evolution-of-chuck-1718395884
I offered a brief comment regarding Mr. Jones which I’ll reprint here:
To my mind, the term “genius” is waaaay overused.
Chuck Jones was a genius.